Lucky Charm

CHAPTER TEN

BY THE TIME GABRIELLE finished breakfast with Holly, she’d discovered just how precocious Derek’s daughter could be. As they walked across the land that separated the barn and the main house, Holly continued the inquisition she’d begun over the doughnuts.

“So have you ever been married?” Holly asked.

Gabrielle liked this question better than Were you in love with my father back in high school? It was young love, Gabrielle had said. And she much preferred this question to Are you in love with him now? He’s a really good guy even if he does snore. That one had stumped her and she’d deflected the question by focusing on the snoring instead of the love.

Did she love Derek?

Without a doubt.

Was that the same as them having a future? Not just yet. But she wasn’t going to let him walk away without fighting this time.

“Gabrielle, did you hear me? I asked if you’ve ever been married.” Holly nudged her with her elbow.

“Nope, never been married.” Grass connected the one large piece of property and Holly enjoyed skipping as they walked.

“Why not?”

Gabrielle glanced up at the warm sun in the cloudless sky. “Because no one I loved ever asked me,” she said honestly.

“Would you say yes if my dad asked?”

“You are a nosy one.” Gabrielle shook her head and laughed.

“That’s what my mom says, too.”

“I’d like to meet her one day.” Gabrielle was surprised to realize she wasn’t just saying it to be nice to Holly. She did want to meet Derek’s ex-wife.

Not only to get a better view into Derek’s past but to meet Holly’s mother. “I bet she’s a great lady. After all, she’s got a kid like you.”

Holly laughed. As they reached the house, the girl caught sight of Fred and ran toward him, leaving questions about Gabrielle loving Derek far behind. Thank God for the kid’s short attention span, Gabrielle thought.

“Gabrielle, come meet Fred!” Holly waved her over.

Gabrielle knelt down and greeted the old basset hound with a pat on the head. “You are as smelly as promised, old man.” But his sad face and long ears were so sweet, Gabrielle couldn’t help falling in love immediately. “How old is he?”

Holly shrugged. “Grandpa says he doesn’t remember.”

“He’s about ten,” a deep male voice said.

Gabrielle glanced up.

“Thomas Corwin,” he said, extending a hand.

She rose to greet him, wiping the dust off her walking shorts. “Gabrielle Donovan.” She shook his hand.

Unlike his brother Hank, Thomas had freshly trimmed hair, also dark like his brother’s, and a buttoned-down collared shirt with khakis.

“We met when you were younger,” Thomas said.

“At Derek’s. I used to have dinner at his house when we were in high school.” Before the brothers had moved in together.

He smiled. “I remember.”

“Uncle Thomas, can we give Fred a bath?” Holly asked.

He nodded. “I think that’s a great idea. I’d love to see the look on your grandfather’s face when he comes home and finds Fred smelling like a rose.”

Holly grinned. “I’ll go get the shampoo!” She took off at a run, leaving Gabrielle dizzy.

“She’s a bundle of energy, that kid. And she switches topics faster than the speed of light.”

“She’s a special little girl,” Thomas said, nodding. “Thank God she is a girl. In this family that’s a blessing, as you well know.” His voice turned somber at the subject matter.

The curse.

He’d given her an opening to question him, and Gabrielle glanced around to make sure they were alone. Holly was busy finding shampoo to wash the dog, Derek was in town and Hank wasn’t home, either. She might not get another opportunity.

“Do you mind talking about it?”

“The curse? Why not? You’re going to write this book, so you might as well hear the true version of our family history. Besides, I’ve read your work and I know your history with Derek. I don’t believe you’d hurt us.”

“Thank you,” she said, warmed by his apparent faith.

“Let’s sit.” He gestured to an old scarred picnic table with benches on either side.

She lowered herself onto the hard wood.

Fred ambled up to her and plopped himself on the floor at her feet. She gave the dog’s head a few strokes before turning to Thomas, who sat beside her on the bench.

“I know about your generation. Who married who and when, who passed away, who got divorced. The dates and specifics I can get from county records. What I can’t figure out is the rationale behind the belief.”

“Why grown, intelligent men believe in witchcraft?” he asked, surprising Gabrielle with his deep laughter.

“Exactly.” She nodded, glad he’d put it that way and not her. “Why would all of you prefer to believe your family was cursed rather than see your history as an unfortunate set of circumstances?”

Thomas rested against the table. “Because those circumstances keep replaying themselves in every generation. That adds up to a curse, if you ask me.”

Fred pushed his nose into her calf, insistently urging her to give him more attention. She leaned over and petted him some more. “You know the expression, when it rains it pours?” she asked Thomas.

“Of course.”

“Isn’t it possible that your family’s just had more than its share of misfortune? That this is the hand you were dealt?”

He glanced out at the yard. Together they watched Holly retrieve the bucket and shampoo from the garage, along with other things for Fred’s bath.

Thomas met her gaze. “My father laid eyes on my mother and it was love at first sight. My mother said the same thing about him.”

Gabrielle placed her elbow on the table and propped her chin in her hand, listening intently.

“Like the Corwin males before him, my father was determined to beat the curse. His father, my grandfather, died not long after catching his wife cavorting with the neighbor, a widower who’d lost his wife and was lonely. My grandmother would go help him with the kids. A little too much helping went on, if you get my drift. My grandfather walked in on them when he came home from work early one day. He shot the neighbor and my grandmother died of a heart attack right there on the spot.”

Gabrielle blinked. “Seriously?”

“Sounds like a comedy of errors, doesn’t it?” He tapped his foot against the dirt on the ground, discussing the tale as if it had happened to another family.

Gabrielle had seen that kind of behavior before in her interviews. Subjects often found it easier to detach themselves from things that haunted them, rather than let themselves face the emotion. Especially men.

Gabrielle inclined her head. “It does,” she admitted.

“We haven’t even gotten to my parents’ story,” Thomas said. “Mom and Dad married and had their kids pretty quickly. They were happy. Even they thought they’d conquered the original Mary Perkins curse.”

Gabrielle knew what was coming next. “Until…”

“A huge storm hit the East Coast. A nor’easter, probably, though I’m not sure if they called it that back then. Wiped out most of the town and my father’s business.”

“What did he do for a living?” Gabrielle asked.

“He was a blacksmith, an extremely talented one. His shop, his tools and equipment-all gone.” Thomas slashed his hand through the air.

Nature, Gabrielle thought. A storm, which she knew from growing up in New England, often devastated the coastline and businesses along with it.

But before she could point that out, Thomas continued. “The storm hit late afternoon. We were all home except for my father. Since my grandmother-my mother’s mother-lived with us, Mom left us kids with her mother so she could go out and look for my father. She never made it.”

“What happened?”

“A flash flood hit and she drowned.” He spoke without emotion, but pain flashed in his eyes.

“We pretty much raised ourselves after that. Grandma wasn’t much help, since she was getting on in years and died soon after she lost her daughter. Dad spent most of his time doing repairs for a little money in and around town. He never could replace the tools and equipment he lost that day. And mentally, he was never the same.”

“How so?” Gabrielle asked, although she could hazard a guess.

“He blamed himself for Mom’s death. He said if he had pushed her away instead of marrying her, the curse wouldn’t have kicked in. She’d still be alive.”

“But-”

He shook his head. “We all said what you’re probably thinking. We told him it was a storm, an act of God. Nobody could control it.”

Gabrielle nodded, glad he’d agreed. “Which is logical and true!”

“Except that over time, each one of us ignored the curse and lived to disprove its existence. You already know my brothers’ stories of love and loss. I’m sure you’ve heard mine. Why wouldn’t we believe it was predestined?”

She exhaled hard, realizing as she’d listened to Thomas recount his family’s past, how the history had built upon itself, working against rational belief.

Yet she tried to counter his argument, anyway. “Because as much pain as you’ve all had in your life, you must realize other people suffer, too. Bad things happen. You can’t always explain it away.”

“Uncle Thomas!” Holly called out to him. “I’m ready!” She pointed to the bucket and the hose she’d run from the spigot and dragged to the pail of water.

Fred lifted his head from his resting position on the ground beside Gabrielle.

“Fred, come!” Holly called.

The dog took one look at the bucket and the running water and rose to his short feet.

“Come!” Holly called again.

The dog turned and headed the opposite way.

Gabrielle chuckled. “That dog is smarter than he looks.”

Thomas grinned. “Go grab Fred’s leash. I’ll be right there,” he called to his niece before turning back to Gabrielle. “Don’t you think I want to agree with you? I have a son who deserves the best in life, but it just isn’t in the cards. Look at Derek.”

Gabrielle’s head began to hurt at the other man’s obstinance. It was a family trait. “I have looked at Derek and so far all I see is a man who broke up with me before anything bad could happen. A man with a failed marriage and business, both of which can be traced back to human error,” she said, frustrated.

Thomas surprised her by reaching out and placing his hand over hers. “I can understand why you feel the need to disprove a curse that affects your own life. But take it from me and my brothers. It can’t be done.” He patted her hand compassionately, which only made her more determined to get Derek over the negative mind-set held by his male relatives.

“At my age-”

“How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

He grinned. “I’m fifty-six. Hank’s fifty-seven and Edward is the baby at fifty-five,” he said, his frown returning at the mention of his brother and rival. “Why?”

“Because you all look young. You are young. Too young to have sworn off love,” Gabrielle said, knowing she was discussing something intensely personal with a man who was basically a stranger.

But this man wasn’t a stranger to Derek. Thomas Corwin and his brothers’ choices all affected how Derek viewed life, and love.

He shrugged. “I can’t speak for the others, but I enjoy my life.”

“And you’re prepared to spend another thirty or so years alone? With just your brother for company because things didn’t work out for you the first time?”

Once again, he patted her hand. “Young lady, I may have sworn off love but I’m not devoid of companionship, if you get my drift.”

Gabrielle was sure she blushed about ten shades of red.

“I’m smart about no longer wanting things I know I can’t have.”

“Like love,” she said.

He nodded. “Like love.”

Gabrielle sighed. She was surprised at how easy it was to understand where Thomas and the rest of the Corwin men were coming from.

And that scared her.

Because unless she could prove the curse was nothing but coincidence, circumstance, she’d have a fascinating true-life paranormal book…but she and Derek wouldn’t stand a chance.

SHARON FELT LIKE AN ASS. Dressed in running wear, shorts and a T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and dark sunglasses covering her eyes, she waited outside the building where Gabrielle had said Tony lived. But feeling stupid and giving up were two different things. Someone was torturing her, and she intended to find out if her ex-boyfriend was that person. The first part of her plan was to discover what Tony’s life was like now. To see if he’d changed, or if he was the same self-centered bastard she’d known in college.

Back then she’d been in love and blind to his faults. His expensive tastes-designer sunglasses, finer restaurant choices and a budget too high for a college student should have been her first clue something was wrong. But at nineteen, she hadn’t cared to look too closely.

Now her eyes were open and her patience was abundant. She’d been sitting by a bench near a tree for the better part of the afternoon and still there was no sign of Tony.

As the hands of her watch neared 4:00 p.m., her patience was finally rewarded. A man resembling Tony rounded the corner and headed for the building entrance. He wore a uniformed T-shirt with a logo on the breast, sunglasses and khaki pants. He wasn’t the immaculately groomed man she’d known, but then a lot had changed.

She supposed prison had not only humbled him but changed his circumstances since his release. Unless he was resorting to blackmail again to fund his expensive taste. Sharon hadn’t paid him yet, but had other women? If he’d held on to Sharon’s photos, surely he’d kept some of the others. Those victims hadn’t wanted to come forward the first time around. They’d feared Tony’s retaliation later on. Once Tony had pled guilty, those women had had no need to take the risk. What about now?

As he strode closer to the front entrance, a woman exited the doorway, caught sight of him and waved. From behind him, a young boy ran toward him and Tony caught him in a hug. Sharon narrowed her gaze, watching him closely. Gabrielle had said he lived with his sister. Sharon and Tony had met and dated in college. She’d never met his sister and wouldn’t recognize her now. And Gabrielle hadn’t mentioned his sister having a child.

Sharon edged closer. Near enough to see and maybe hear, but she kept her head down so Tony wouldn’t notice her.

“How was your day?” the woman asked him.

He lowered the little boy back to the floor. “It was fine. Yours?”

His voice was deeper but essentially the same. Sharon shivered despite the heat of the summer sun.

“My day’s been busy.” She pointed to the toddler and laughed. “Tell Daddy what we did today.”

Daddy?

A wife? A child? A life?

Sharon licked her suddenly dry lips.

Could Tony really have straightened out his life this much? Or could his wife and child, the sense of normalcy, be a cover? And if he wasn’t her blackmailer, then who was?

GABRIELLE LEFT HOLLY with her uncle and headed back to her room at the inn, feeling surprisingly glum. She had thought that the more she explored the history of the curse, the simpler it would be to explain it away. The easier it would be to convince Derek nothing bad would happen if he fell in love with her all over again.

On the surface, it should be simple. She had Mother Nature to blame for the destruction of Derek’s grandfather’s life. It was horrible, but it could happen to anyone. In the next generation, Hank, Thomas and Edward, the matter came down to plain bad luck and human jealousy. It didn’t matter that in Gabrielle’s mind, those kinds of things happened. That was life.

To the Corwin men, though, those things could all be traced back to the curse. Thomas seemed intelligent and logical. Derek was the same. Yet both men deeply believed. She was beginning to wonder if anything could change their minds.

Frustrated, she went back to the inn. But before she even let herself into her room, she realized something was wrong. Her door, which she’d locked before leaving, was ajar. A glance at the door frame told her it had been wedged open.

She nudged the door open the rest of the way with her foot. “Hello?” she called out.

Nobody answered.

She didn’t see anyone in the small room. She quickly checked out the area. The bathroom door was open. Even the shower curtain was pulled back, so she could be sure nobody lurked there.

Heart pounding, she stepped inside. At a glance, she didn’t see anything missing, but how could she really know? Until she packed, she couldn’t be certain. The only jewelry she’d brought with her was on her body. Her watch, favorite ring, the diamond earrings she loved and the bracelet that her mother had given her.

And her laptop was in her car. Out of a sense of security, she kept it-and all her manuscripts and notes-with her.

So whatever was missing, it couldn’t be anything of real value, sentimental or otherwise. Still, someone had been in her room and ransacked the whole place. Drawers had been pulled out, clothes from the suitcase scattered everywhere.

Feeling violated, she backed up one step, then two until she got outside and felt less confined.

She glanced at the two doors to the other rooms, then knocked on each. No one answered. Both were shut tight, with no evidence of someone breaking into either one. She headed around the path to the front of the house and knocked on Mrs. Rhodes’s door, ringing the bell persistently at the same time, with the same result. Nothing.

Forcing a deep breath, she pulled her cell phone from her purse and dialed 9-1-1. They instructed her to wait in the car until the police arrived. Gabrielle was more than happy to oblige.